meme coins has spiked on Indian cryptocurrency exchanges, taking a cue from a resurgence in the global crypto market where the blue-chip Bitcoin and Ethereum currencies have scaled to new record highs after a year and half of falling prices.
Popular meme coins such as Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin, Floki, Vita Inu, Doge Bonk and PepePAD accounted for around half the total trading value of $113 million on the top three Indian crypto exchanges in the 24 hours till 7 pm Tuesday, according to data from global crypto data platform CoinMarketCap.
Prior to this surge in trading that started on Sunday, these “penny-stock-like”, highly volatile coins had an around 30% share in the value of crypto trades in India.
“Some share of speculative activity has always been there in meme coins,” said Siddhartha Gupta, senior vice-president at CoinDCX, one of the largest crypto exchanges in India.
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Investors who had accumulated meme coins during the last bull cycle in 2021 are now selling them, Gupta said. “We predict this may even accelerate more towards mid-year as the alt coins drive the surge cycle.”
In contrast to the more established cryptocurrencies which see a cyclical